Station train-indicator



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

E. S. BOYNTON. STATION TRAIN INDIGATOR.

No. 317,616. Patented May 12, 1885 13am GEPURT I \1E;WHAVEN MONTREAL MORHISVILLE T. JOHN.

@ kw c z Wi/incsses. I'm anion (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2. E. S. BOYNT-ON.

STATION TRAIN INDIGATOR.

Patented May 12, 1885.

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EDWARD S. BOYNTON, OF BRIDGEPORT, CONNECTICUT.

STATION TRAIN-INDICATOR.

SPECTFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 317,616, dated May 12, 1885.

Application filed September 15, 1884. (No model.)

To aZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it known. that I, EDWARD STANLEY larger scale BOYNTON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Bridgeport, in the county of Fairfield and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Station-Indicators or Information-Tablets; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full,

clear, and exact description of the invention, such" as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to that class of indicators which are used at railway depots or stations to indicate the time of departure and the destination of trains.

My improvement consists, mainly, of the combination,with a number of pivoted signs each bearing the name of a station, of a tum: bler provided with changeable or commutable pins, and so arranged with reference to the signs that it may simultaneously turn a number thereof corresponding to the number and combination of the commutable pins. By this combination of parts any desired selec tion of signs may be turned for exposure of their marked faces, and by the employment of a series of tumblers with pins arranged in a different combination on each, as many different selections of signs may be thus turned as there are tumblers without requiring a change in the combinations of the pins.

In order that my invention may be clearly understood, I have illustrated in the annexed drawings and will proceed to describe in detail a practical form thereof, it being understood that the details may be greatly varied in construction and arrangement to suit circumstances or the views of manufacturers and users.

Figurel is a front elevation of my improved indicator. Fig. 2 is aperspective view thereof, the hinged front being shown as opened to admit of looking into the interior. Fig. 3 is a horizontal section on the lines w 00 of Fig. 1. Fig. l is a front elevation of the upper portion of the indicator minus some portions broken away for the better exposure to view of other parts. Fig. 5 is a transverse vertical section of the upper portion of the indicator, showing the train for operating the hands of the clock dial. Figs. 7, 8, 9, and 10 are detail views, hereinafter more specially referred to. Figs. 3, 4, and 5 are drawn on a than Figs. 1 and 2, and Figs. 7, 8, 9. and 10 are drawn on a still larger scale.

The same letters of reference indicate identical parts in all the figures.

The frame of the indicator consists of the back A and the front B hinged to the back. The central portion of the hinged front has an open panel,which contains the vertical series of pivoted signs 0 O, ten in number in the example illustrated. The signs have a pivotpin, c, at each end by which they are journaled in the side bars of the hinged front. The main part of the signs has the cross-sectional contour clearly shown in Fig. 10, one smooth side, 0, being .left blank and the adjacent smooth side, 0*, being marked with the name ofa station. Strips b b on the'hinged front project a little across the signs at-each end in order that their rocking movement in either direction may be limited, the angle between the blank and marked sides of the signs being suitably cut away to form a rounded surface at these points, as clearly shown in Figs. 3, 7, and 8, so that the signs may turn to the required extent behind these strips. The contour of the signs opposite to the angle be tween the sides 0 and 0 as clearly shown in Figs. 7,8, and 10, provides two opposed shoulders, 0' and c, by striking against one or the other of which the signs may be turned in one direction or the other to expose either their blank sides 0, as shown in Fig. 7, or their lettered sides 0 as shown in Fig. 8. The weight is so distributed in each sign that it will be held by gravity in either of the positions just mentioned.

The signs 0 are operated by pins (Z on crosssliding tumblers D, arranged in the back A behind the signs. I haveshown sixteen such tumblers, each composed of a vertically movable or sliding bar provided with as many pinholes d as there are signs, and with a keyhole, at, at the lowerend. By providing each tumbler with a different combination. of pins (Z sixteen different combinations of signs can be exposed on this indicator for as many different trains without making any changes in the arrangement ofthe pins d. The pins are, however, changeable or commutable, so that any one or more of the different combinations of signs may be changed at any time. These tumblers are divided into two sets of eight each, the members of each set being ranged side by side in close contact within a suitable cavity within the back, which cavity is made longer than the tumblers by as much as is required for their endwise motions. The tumblers are confined in the cavities in the back by a cross-bar, A, near their lower ends, and by the frame-board A of the clock-dial near their upper ends. \Vhen the hinged front is closed against the back and the tumblers are all in their lowermost position, all the signs 0 expose their blank faces 0 through the open panel of the hinged front.

To indicate the list of stations for a train it is necessary to raise the particular tumbler having the combination of pins (1 adapted to turn the required signs. To this end the front B is provided with a door, B,at its lower end, through which access may be had to the tumblers, while the front B remains closed against the back A. This door having been opened a pin-key, (P, is inserted in the key hole cl of the proper tumbler, and the latter pushed up thereby as far as it can be pushed. In doing so its pins d strike the shoulders 0 of the particular signs whose marked faces are to be exposed, and turn these signs from the position shown inFig. 7 to the position shown in Fig. 8. In raising a tumbler the key d is brought opposite to a transverse groove, a, into which the shank of the key is pushed, as shown in Fig. 9, to retain the raised tumbler in its elevated position. On lowering the elevated tumbler its pins (1 strike the shoulders e of the turned signs and return them to the position shown in Fig. 7.

The back A is provided below the tumblers with the proper schedule or record by which to set the indicator for the different trains. For instance, the numbers of the trains may be marked in columns under the proper tumblers, together with the times of departure. In order to facilitate the setting up of combinations of commutable pins d,a list of the names 5 on the signs may also be'marked on the margin of the back A, as indicated in Figs. 2 and 4.

The hinged front 13 is opened only when a change is to be made in one or more combinations of pins d. It remains closed at all other times.

A clock-dial, E, is placed over a hole in the frame-board A The hour and minute hands thereof are operated by a suitable train, the crown-wheel F of which is engaged by the teeth of a pinion, G, on the upper end of a vertical shaft, II, which is supported in the back A, and is provided near its lower end with a pulley, h, for turning it by hand. The dial is visible through a hole or window in the front B.

I claim as my invention 1. The combination, substantially as before set forth, of a number of pivoted signs and a tumbler provided with comniutable pins, whereby any desired selection of said signs may be turned for exposure of their marked faces.

2. The combination, substantiallyas before set forth, of a number of pivoted signs and r of commutable pins, whereby any desired selection of said signs may be turned for exposure of their marked faces.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

EDWARD S. BOYNTON.

WVitnesses:

A. It. LAOEY, Isaac HOLDEN. 

